Alive again
by obeytherandomness
Summary: All of the ninjas who died in battle on the day of Kyuubi's sealing and afterwards are being brought back to life, but who is doing this and what will it lead to? this is sasunaru
1. Chapter 1

For those of you who have been reading my stories for a while, I know I have already posted and deleted this story, but that was because I wasn't going anywhere with it and now I am.

Also, I do not own Naruto.

* * *

It all began with screams of "Ghost!" following a man around the streets. This man was of little importance. He was a man of tall build and dark hair who held a cigarette to his mouth. But if you were to ask Kurenai, Shikamaru, or Konohamaru they would tell you that he was a miracle. He was Asuma and he was dead. He had died earlier that year fighting off the Akatsuki, but there he stood as real as life.

He was only the first to come back to life. Each day another person would awaken from the slumber that is death and walk home. Nobody knew how these people came back. Not even those who had come back knew. If asked they would just say that they awoke in front of the memorial stone that held their names with a cloaked figure sitting before them.

After many days of this miraculous occurrence, all the ninjas who died in battle during the attack of the Kyuubi and after were resurrected. When all the ninjas were alive another group of people began to revive. To be specific a clan that had the ability to use the Sharingan. The Uchiha clan. Everyone but the leader and his wife returned.

Then everything stopped. For seven whole days no one came from the memorial tablet where the names printed were not all dead. People began to wait at the memorial and at the graveyard for the mysterious person who brought dead back to the world of the living, and after seven days he appeared in the graveyard.

Many of the people who saw him on that night had to hold back a gasp of surprise. The all-powerful man that they had envisioned was just a teenager. Though he wore a cloak that covered his body it was obvious by his height that he could be no older than 16. His cloak was dark and it did a good job of hiding him until he stepped into the bright moonlight of the full moon that covered the whole graveyard.

He walked straight to the five coffins that lay on the ground where they had not been the night before. He opened them to reveal five perfect corpses that the hiding people could not see. The cloaked figure went to the coffin to the far right, and the people watched as he reached out and a white chakra began to spread over the body in the coffin. This continued until there was a gasp for air from the body.

The body sat up and threw himself at the cloaked figure that caught him and pushed him away. "What do you want enemy?" asked the now alive body.

"I am no enemy," answered the cloaked figure as he reached up to his forehead and brought out a black leaf headband, "and I want nothing more than to make people happy."

The other person inspected the leaf headband closely trying to prove that it was not a fake. When he was satisfied he narrowed his eyes at the cloaked figure. "Who are you and where am I?" he asked.

"I am not important and you are in the Konoha graveyard 11 years after your death," answered the person. The man's eyes widened. "Listen to me," the cloaked figure's voice took on a hint of urgency. "The day you died on that mission someone took your place and assumed your life. All of the Uchiha clan was killed soon after by this man."

"What?" yelled Itachi.

"I and the council know it wasn't you, but the council decided to blame it on you instead of creating mass panic from the villagers."  
"If it would create mass panic then why did you bring me back?" asked Itachi.

The cloaked figure shrugged, "I don't believe that anyone should be accused wrongly of a crime they did not commit. Especially if that crime was the murder of his own family."

By now all the audience had their jaws on the floor. "If you'll excuse me I have others to attend to." The hidden person moved to another coffin and again white chakra flowed to the corpse.

"What happened?" asked a woman as she sat up within her coffin.

"Mikoto-san," said the person as he bowed and then he moved onto the next one as Itachi went to her and helped her up.

The next person to be revived was Fugaku-san, but he reacted differently than Mikoto. Just like Itachi he launched himself forward and tried to attack the cloaked figure, but he missed. When he turned to attack again he saw his wife and Itachi. "Otou-san," said Itachi, "This kid brought us back to life. We've been dead for 11 years."

"What?" yelled Fugaku and Mikoto gasped, "That's not even possible!"

"I'm sure that you'll find, when you return to the village that 11 years has passed without you," answered the hidden person as he walked over to the next two coffins. He reached out both of his hands and white chakra flowed to the two remaining bodies.

The people hidden behind the bushes could barely hold back a gasp when they saw the fourth Hokage and his wife step out of their coffin. The cloaked figure bowed deeply to them and said, "It is an honor to meet you Hokage-sama," then he turned to speak to all five of them, "If you'll follow me I'll take you to see the third and fifth Hokages," then he turned around and said, "and all you people hiding in the bushes should go home to sleep since now you've seen me with your own eyes."

* * *

When they reached the Hokages' office the cloaked figure held the door open for the five people to enter before he entered. Immediately ANBU members attacked Itachi, but before they could hit him they fell to the ground unconscious. The cloaked figure had stepped forward and had delivered one swift attack to the pressure point that he knew would knock them out on each one.

"Hokage-sama," said the cloaked figure while addressing both the Hokages, "Itachi is innocent of the crimes that he was accused of committing, and if you don't believe me these documents are his death documents that state that his date of death is the same day as the Uchiha massacre." He handed the fifth Hokage the paper, but she barely noticed because she was too busy gaping at the fourth.

"You're alive," she gasped.

"I'm as surprised as you are," answered Minato who was holding Kushina close to him.

"But that's not possible!" gasped the third.

"Why not?" asked the cloaked person, "I've revived everyone else. Why wouldn't I be able to revive them?"

"It's not a matter of if you can revive them, but it is a matter of the fact that his revival also breaks the seal of the Kyuubi."

At the mention of the Kyuubi both the Namikaze's tensed. "No!" gasped Kushina.

The cloaked figure shrugged. "There is no need to worry about that since the Kyuubi is dead."

"What?" was everybody's, except for Itachi's, answer.

Surprisingly it was Itachi who answered, "He's been dead for a long time,"

"Good," smirked Fugaku, "Nobody liked that brat anyway."

"How dare you say that!" yelled Kushina, "Naruto took on that demon to save the village. He's a hero and yet you disrespect him!"

Minato turned to the third Hokage, "Do you know how he died?" he asked.

The third shook his head and looked at the fifth who looked down and said, "Akatsuki captured him."

"Akatsuki?" asked the fourth.

"People who caught all the Jinchurikis to extract the demon from their bodies, and killing them," answered the cloaked figure.

"What?" yelled Kushina, "We have to save him! Why haven't you sent anyone to save him?"

"We did," answered the fifth, "About a year ago when we first learned that he was captured, but we couldn't find him and after a month we had to assume he was dead and that the Akatsuki was getting ready to attack us. They could come at any moment."

Kushina sagged to the floor and began to cry while Minato comforted her with a shocked expression that was mixed with sadness on his face.

"Why do you care?" asked the cloaked figure, "You didn't even know him."

"Of course I care," said Minato becoming defensive, "I'm his father and I love him more than anything!"

"You're my…" gasped the cloaked figure making everyone look at him just as the light was finally able to hit his face showing spiky blonde hair, tanned skin with scarred cheeks and beautiful blue eyes that put the sky to shame.

"Naruto!" gasped the fifth Hokage as she ran forward and hugged him.

At first he made no move to either hug back or push her away since he was too shocked that his father was the person he respected the most, but after a moment he shoved Lady Tsunade away from him. "Naruto?" she asked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked the third and fifth Hokages.

"What?" asked Lady Tsunade.

"Why didn't you tell me that the fourth Hokage and his wife were my parents? Why did you let me believe that my parents just abandoned me?" he had tears coming to his eyes now, "Why did you let me feel like nobody loved me?"

"Naruto," said the third, "We couldn't let you go around telling people that your father was the fourth. It was top secret."

"And yet you told me every other top secret information that you could think of I won't take fake excuses." Both the Hokages looked at each other for the information and they realized that neither of them really had a reason for what they hadn't told Naruto. "You know what? I don't want to hear anymore fake excuses, so," he turned to Minato and Kushina, "could we maybe spend the day together?" They both smiled happily and nodded.

They turned to leave, but Tsunade grabbed Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto please," she said but when he pulled away she looked desperately at the fourth and his wife. They ignored her as well and walked out with their son.

Just before they left Naruto turned and said, "Bye Ita-nii," then he left without so much as a wave at the other occupants in the room.

The third sighed and said, "I guess we deserved that. We didn't even have a reason for keeping that from him."

"Don't worry," said Itachi, "He'll come around. He used to do that to me when he was really angry with me."

* * *

Thank you for reading.

I have a lot of stories that I feel have been neglected, so I've decided to post them. I hope you guys like this one.

I do have the next chapter for this one written, but I don't want to put everything up at once, so I will update the next chapter in a week of after I have five comments.


	2. Chapter 2

The Namikaze family walked silently through the village until finally Naruto turned and said, "Is it okay if I call you kaa-san and tou-san?"

"Of course," said Kushina moving forward to hug Naruto, "We're your parents, and we want to be your parents if you'll let us."

Naruto hesitated for a moment and then hugged back. "It'll take me a while, but I definitely want to try."

"I'm glad," she said backing up. Both her and Minato smile, "Where do you want to go."

"Home," he said. "Where is home?"

Minato's eyes widened, "You didn't get my mansion? I told them specifically that you were to get the Namikaze mansion. Did you get anything at all?"

Naruto shook his head, "The most I ever got was the money that's given to orphans every month, but even that didn't always happen."

Both Minato and Kushina had their hands clenched at their sides. "I'll deal with them later," growled Minato and then he calmed and said, "The mansion is this way."

They walked along the road. It was still early in the morning so almost no one was out and those who were too busy with opening their shops without noticing them. When they reached the mansion Naruto could barely keep his jaw from hitting the floor. The mansion was big. Bigger than even the Uchiha mansion was. It was at least three stories tall and it was a beautiful Victorian type mansion. There was a large garden that would have been beautiful before the death of the Namikazes and on the other side was a large training ground with a whole bunch of different terrains to test the training person. The whole mansion was surrounded by trees cutting it off from the rest of the village except for a road that was very inviting for anyone who traveled it.

"My garden's dead," sighed Kushina, "Oh well. I'll just have to remake it."

"Can I help?" asked Naruto, "I used to love to have flowers all over my apartment, but they kept dying because I had to go on missions."

"Of course you can," said Kushina happily.

They walked into the house and walked straight to the living room. The first thing that caught Naruto's attention was the large screen TV. He hadn't had a TV at all in his apartment.

"Naruto," asked Minato, "Why are you still wearing that hood?"

"Because I thought they didn't care about me," sighed Naruto, "Being tortured for a year while waiting for someone to save you is enough to make anyone lose hope."

"Oh my poor baby," cried Kushina hugging Naruto. This time Naruto didn't hesitate to lean into her embrace.

"But Tsunade-sama said that she did send people to save you," said Minato.

"I know," Naruto nodded, "That's why I told you who I was. As well as finally having a family."

"Then why are you still wearing your hood?"

Naruto sighed, "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to hate me," he said calmly, but there was a hint of desperation hidden within his tone.

"We could never hate you baby," said Kushina with her arms still wrapped around him.

Naruto took a deep breath and pulled his hood down to reveal his golden spiky hair with a little patch of his hair growing out into a long ponytail hanging down his mid-back. Within the tangles of his hair two orange fox ears protruded from his head. He allowed his cloak to fall off his shoulders to reveal 9 fox tails wrapped around his body to make it seem like they weren't there under the cloak.

Kushina gasped. "What did the Akatsuki do to you?" she clenched the hand that was not wrapped around Naruto, "I'll kill them for hurting my baby."

Naruto looked up at her and Minato pleadingly so Minato smiled and said, "We don't hate you Naruto."

Naruto sighed and turned to his mother. "It wasn't actually Akatsuki's fault that this happened. The Kyuubi tried to take over my body 14 years ago. Somehow the seal had broken, but I killed him. However, since I was only two years old I didn't know how to destroy all his chakra so some of it remained in my body. It mixed with my own chakra system and regenerated just as my own chakra system. For 14 years it got stronger in my body. When Akatsuki tried to take Kyuubi out of me it somehow forced the chakra to combine with my own making me a half demon."

There was a silent pause before Kushina said, "I'm still going to kill them for hurting my baby."

Naruto smiled and Minato laughed. "There's no need," said Naruto, "I already did."

* * *

Naruto and Itachi were training in the forest when a familiar chakra signature that Naruto thought he would never feel within Konoha again filled his senses. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't wearing his cloak and if Sasuke saw him like that he knew that the boy would think of him as a demon just as the villagers had until Minato, his father, had stopped them. Naruto knew that they still secretly felt that way, but now they weren't as open about it. He wouldn't be able to bare it if Sasuke felt that way about him too. He would just use a transformation jutsu, but, for some reason, he could never make himself without the demon aspects.

Sasuke jumped out of the forest so that he was in front of Naruto and facing Itachi. "You bastard," he growled at Itachi. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," answered Itachi.

"You are a rogue ninja," said Sasuke. "You don't live here."

"You're mistaken Sasuke," said Itachi. "I never did anything that would make me a rogue ninja."

"What about killing the clan?" growled Sasuke.

"I didn't do that," answered Itachi.

"I saw you do it," said Sasuke.

"It was Orochimaru," said Naruto.

"I know what I saw Naruto," growled Sasuke without looking back at Naruto.

"You were only a child," answered Naruto. "There's no way you would be able to tell if someone like Orochimaru was using an advanced jutsu to look like your brother."

"Then why didn't he come back after the massacre?" asked Sasuke.

"I died on a mission and Orochimaru took my place," said Itachi.

"I don't believe you," said Sasuke. "You killed the family and then you joined the Akatsuki."

"Orochimaru had someone else take on Itachi's form and join the Akatsuki so that he could have a spy in that group," said Naruto.

"You're lying," Sasuke yelled. "You're both lying to me! There's no way that Itachi died because he's standing right in front of me."

"I can prove it to you," said Naruto.

"How?" asked Sasuke.

"I can show you the clan that you have vowed to avenge," said Naruto. "The clan that now lives once more inside of the Uchiha compound."

"You're lying," growled Sasuke. Throughout this whole conversation he had never looked away from Itachi. He hadn't looked at Naruto.

"I'm not lying," said Naruto, "and if you come with me I will show you." Naruto pulled on Sasuke's arm to try to get him to follow him, but Sasuke didn't move.

"Fine," Itachi sighed knowing that the only reason Sasuke didn't move was because he was making sure to keep Itachi completely in his sights. "I will lead the way."

* * *

Sasuke was totally skeptical through the journey. He knew that Naruto never told lies that were of this magnitude even if it meant that it would bring Sasuke back home, but his mind kept going through every scenario possible. Itachi could be threatening Naruto. Itachi could be controlling Naruto. Itachi could be using a genjutsu on him. Every scenario that ran through his head was a bad one except for the one that ran through his head that told him that maybe Naruto really was telling the truth. He knew it was the most likely, but it was also the hardest to believe. He only realized that he never looked at Naruto's face to decide if he was lying or not when they had almost reached the Uchiha compound. He hadn't even turned to look at Naruto yet. He couldn't tell if he wasn't looking because he was afraid to look away from Itachi and have the man attack the two of them, or if he was afraid to see the face of the man that he had tried to kill some years ago. His mind told him it was the former, but his heart told him it was the latter. He didn't know which one he should believe.

"We're here," Itachi mad a gesture into the compound and Sasuke finally peeled his eyes away from his brother to look inside. There were children playing. Children that Sasuke recognized from when he was a child. They hadn't aged a day. A few adults littered the area watching the kids and talking amongst themselves about something or another. It was like a scene out of one of his memories. He almost thought to pinch himself just to believe that what he was seeing was actually happening.

"How did this happen?" Sasuke turned to ask Naruto, but he didn't see anyone where he thought that Naruto would be standing. "Where did he go?"

"He left while we were on our way over here," answered Itachi. "I believe he thought this was something that only Uchiha's should be a part of since it is our family reunion. And I don't actually know how this happened except that Naruto did it. He actually brought back everyone who hadn't died of natural causes since the attack of the Kyuubi. He even brought back the fourth hokage and his wife."

"That's impossible," Sasuke said. "No one has that much power. Especially not the dobe."

"Naruto is different than what you remember," Itachi said. He handed Sasuke a piece of paper.

"What is this?" asked Sasuke.

"That's Naruto's address," said Itachi. "He really missed you."

"I already know where Naruto lives," Sasuke tried to say, but Itachi was already walking back into the compound. Sasuke moved to follow him, but as he looked at the family that he had not seen since he went for revenge. He hadn't even realized that they weren't even really important to him anymore. They weren't hurt by his quest for revenge, but Naruto had been. Naruto deserved his attention more than his family did. He turned around and started heading towards Naruto's apartment only to realize that he was heading in the wrong direction when he looked at the address that Itachi had given him.

* * *

here's the next chapter. i'll put the next one up on saturday unless i get 5 reviews before then


	3. Chapter 3

When Sasuke arrived at Naruto's new address he was shocked to see the largest mansion he had ever seen. He didn't remember ever seeing this place, but it looked like it had been here for a long time. It looked like it was a mansion that would be passed down from generation to generation. That meant that Naruto had finally figured out who his parents were. That thought made Sasuke smile despite his best efforts not to.

Sasuke walked up to the house through the garden only to be stopped by a woman with red hair who was working in the garden. "May I help you sweetheart?" she asked.

"Yea," Sasuke answered. "I'm looking for Naruto."

"May I ask who you are?" she asked.

"I'm a friend of his," answered Sasuke.

"Oh," she smiled at him. "My son has many friends. Could you give me a name?"

"Your son?" asked Sasuke.

"Who are you?" she asked a little more suspiciously. Apparently he was the only one who didn't know that this random woman who was working in a garden was Naruto's mom. Now he had to tell her who he was and there was no telling how she would react.

"My name," he sighed, "is Uchiha Sasuke."

"Oh!" she smiled excitedly. "Naruto talks about you all the time. He's in his room right now. I'll go get him if you'll just wait in the living room."

She walked into the house and Sasuke followed her only to realize that he had no clue where the living room was. He decided that he should just wait by the door and they could just come find him.

"Sasuke?" asked Naruto as he came down the stairs that led directly to the front door. He was wearing a cloak that covered all but his grinning face. "Mom told me that you were waiting in the living room."

"I didn't know where it was," Sasuke said awkwardly. He wasn't sure if this was okay. He hadn't talked to Naruto since he had tried to kill the boy and now he didn't know how to anymore.

Naruto laughed. "Yea," he said. "It took me forever to remember where it was too. I still get lost in this big house." That made sense. Naruto had always lived in a small apartment where everything was one room and now he was living in a mansion with mazes of rooms and hallways. "Follow me. I'll take you there."

Naruto turned down a hallway to the side and Sasuke immediately followed. This house was huge and there was no way he was going to be able to find this place on his own.

When Naruto turned into the living room, Sasuke had to fight from allowing his jaw to drop to the ground. The living room was huge with beautiful furniture that looked like it fit perfectly in the room. "Do you like it?" Naruto asked somewhat embarrassedly.

"It's beautiful," Sasuke answered before he could stop himself.

Naruto immediately brightened at those words. "I'm glad you like it. My dad picked out all the furniture and decorations. Would you like anything to snack or something?"

Sasuke nodded speechlessly. He still couldn't get over the beauty of the room to do anything else.

Naruto smiled and went to one of the walls where a strange seal was engraved. "Um, excuse me?" he said as he placed his hand upon its center.

"Yes Naruto-sama?" a voice reverberated through the seal and Sasuke had to stop himself from jumping in shock. He had never seen a seal like that before.

"I was wondering if we could have some snacks," Naruto said.

"Of course Naruto-sama," answered whoever was on the other side of the seal. "How many people am I making the snacks for?"

"Just me and Sasuke," Naruto spoke nervously as he scraped his foot back and forth on the hard floor. After a moment's pause he seemed to realize something and looked back up to talk to the seal. "Could you bring mom something too? She's working out in the garden."

"Of course Naruto-sama," answered the person. "I will be right up with those snacks.

"Who was that?" asked Sasuke when Naruto returned to his seat.

"That was the cook," answered Naruto.

"You have servants?" asked Sasuke.

"Only a few," he answered. "My dad said that he wouldn't have gotten any if it wasn't for the fact that the house is so big and hard to take care of. He also said that we needed a cook because none of the people in this house can cook anything but ramen. Except for my mom. She can cook some amazing sweets."

"Who is your father?" asked Sasuke. It was something that he had been curious about ever since he had met Naruto but Naruto could never tell him. He even did research to try to find his dad, but he could never find anything that was remotely useful. Though, he'd never tell Naruto that.

Naruto blushed and gave a small smile as he looked down at his hands. It was still a strange topic for him to talk about and he was extremely happy that his father was the great Yondaime that he had always looked up to ever since he had been old enough to know how. "My father is Namikaze Minato."

"The Yondaime?" This time Sasuke couldn't hold back his shocked reaction.

Naruto nodded and there was an awkward silence for a slow moment. "What about your parents?" Naruto broke the silence with his question.

"What about them?" asked Sasuke.

"Did you get to see them?" asked Naruto.

"No," answered Sasuke.

"Why not?" Naruto asked. "Were they not at the compound when you went there?"

"I don't know," Sasuke shrugged. "I didn't go in."

"Why not?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know. Itachi wanted me to come see you. He says you missed me and I owed you at least this much."

"I did miss you," Naruto blushed again as he said these words, "but you don't owe me anything. You should go see your parents."

"Here are your snacks," said the cook as she walked into the room.

"Thank you," Naruto smiled at her as he took the tray and placed it on the small table in front of the couch.

"Is there anything else that you need Naruto-sama?" she asked.

"N-no," stuttered Naruto. He seriously wasn't used to this whole having others serve you thing. When he sat back down there was another awkward silence until Sasuke broke it.

"Why are you wearing that hood?" he asked.

"No reason," said Naruto with a smile.

"Then take it off," Sasuke demanded.

"No thank you," Naruto answered a little nervously.

"Why not?" asked Sasuke.

"I just don't want to," Naruto said defiantly.

"That's not an answer," Sasuke growled.

"Yes it is," answered Naruto.

"Well it's not a very good answer," Sasuke sighed.

"It's the best you're going to get."

Sasuke wanted to press for more, but he knew that if he tried he would just get locked out entirely and now wasn't the time to do that. Not right after he had finally come home.

"You should probably go see the hokages before you stay here too much longer," Naruto said to change the subject.

"Hokages?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea," Naruto nodded. "The third, fourth, and fifth hokages are all working together now."

"How is it possible that all of these people are alive Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked nervously.

"When I was younger I researched the possibility of bringing my parents back from the dead. I found out that the only way to do that is to give up all your life force," Sasuke said. "So how is it possible that all of these people have come back to life?"

"It is possible to convert chakra into life force," answered Naruto, "but it takes a lot of chakra. A normal person wouldn't be able to accomplish it."

"So only you can do it?" asked Sasuke.

"I didn't say that."

"Come on Naruto. I'm not stupid. You have the largest amount of chakra I've ever seen even without the use of the Kyuubi's chakra."

"You know about Kyuubi?" Naruto gasped.

"Yea," Sasuke sighed. "Orochimaru told me that you were the container for the nine-tailed fox. He was trying to give me a reason to kill you."

"And that wasn't reason enough?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke flinched at those words. He couldn't blame Naruto for thinking that. The boy had been subjected to so much hate against the demon inside of him before and Sasuke probably didn't help the assumption when he tried to kill Naruto those many years ago. "No," he said. It was the only thing he could say. Anything else would either be a lie or too revealing of himself for his own liking.

"Oh." It was a short response to a short statement, but Sasuke didn't need anything more. Naruto's face lit up with a small smile that spoke of true happiness and his eyes glittered with the beginnings of happy tears. Sasuke's own mouth twisted into the beginnings of a small smile. He had forgotten how infectious Naruto's true smile could be.

"I'm home!" a voice called from the front door.

"Dad!" Naruto called out from his seat, "We're in the living room."

"Who's we?" the yondaime asked as he walked into the room.

Sasuke immediately stood and bowed to the great man both out of respect and out of fear that he would be arrested for being a traitor.

"You look a lot like the Uchiha's," said the yondaime thoughtfully, "but I don't recognize you so you must be Uchiha Sasuke."

"As observant as ever," Kushina giggled as she walked into the room after him, "but I believe I just told you outside that Sasuke was here to visit."

"Ah," whined Minato, "you ruined my fun."

"You're going to scare the poor boy away," said Kushina.

"Sasuke doesn't scare that easily mom," Naruto joked.

Sasuke said nothing. He was too busy worrying about what the great fourth Hokage would think about him to even think about being frightened by his "psychic" abilities.

"So Sasuke," said Kushina as she turned away from her whining husband, "you have to tell me about yourself. The last time I saw you you were only a few months old."

"We've met?" Sasuke asked.

"Well of course sweetheart," she laughed. "You're mother and I are really good friends. We hang out with each other whenever we get the chance. She's even come over to help me with my gardening every once in a while. That's actually how we met you know. Of course it was before either of us were married. Actually it was while we were still in the academy. We both happened to be admiring the same rose near the back of the schoolyard during recess. We didn't even try to pick it. We just stared at it until recess was over. The next day we went back to where the rose was and it was no longer there. I don't remember exactly what we said to each other, but I remember that both of us were upset that someone had killed the lovely flower by picking it. I dragged your mother on an adventure with me. We investigated who would dare murder such a beautiful flower. We never did find the culprit, but from that day on we were good friends. I was even at both yours and Itachi's birth. I think that your mother would have been at Naruto's birth too if it hadn't been for the Kyuubi. I understood though. She had to protect you and your brother from the demon."

"Sweetheart," Minato cut in.

"What?" asked Kushina.

"You're rambling," Minato smiled.

"No," Sasuke shook his head. "It's fine. I never knew that my mother did that. She always seemed like the noble woman that she has to be in order to be an Uchiha."

Kushina laughed. "Your mother is a very good woman. She is honorable, but she can also be a lot of fun. I suppose you don't remember much about her. You haven't seen her in so long. Which reminds me, why aren't you at the Uchiha compound. I thought you would be dying to spend time with your family."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto who was still standing behind him hooded and cloaked. "I had to do something else first."

"What was that?" asked Kushina.

"Curiosity killed the cat," Minato joked.

"And satisfaction brought it back," Kushina stuck her tongue out at her husband. Sasuke couldn't help but to let a small smile creep onto his face when he heard Naruto laugh at his parents' antics. He was glad that Naruto finally had a family. It was what the boy deserved after all that he had been through in his life. Sasuke jumped when he felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder. He hadn't realized that he had been that deep in thought.

"You really should go see your parents," he said with a smile. "Mrs. Uchiha has been worried sick about you."

"Will you come with me?" Sasuke asked. He didn't realize it before, but now that he thought about it, he realized that he was actually afraid to face his parents alone. It was only natural that he would ask Naruto to go with him. The boy had, after all, been his one and only friend in his lifetime. Not to mention the fact that Naruto had always been by his side no matter what.

"Sure," Naruto nodded.

"You have fun," said Kushina, who had been listening in on the conversation.

"You really shouldn't be so nosy," Minato laughed as Kushina punched him for giving her such a rude comment.

"I'll be back soon," Naruto promised.

* * *

Sorry about the late update guys. This last weekend was very busy and I never got the chance to update.

I do have the next chapter written and I will update it on Saturday unless I get 5 comments before then.

Thanks again for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

The walk to Sasuke's house seemed to be a lot shorter than it had been for him to walk to Naruto's house. He didn't know why. Maybe it was because he got lost on the way to Naruto's house, or it could be that he had been more worried about seeing Naruto than it was for him to see his parents. Whatever the reason, Sasuke was thoroughly shocked when they arrived just outside of his house without him even noticing.

"Hello little brother," Itachi said from the door. Sasuke tensed, but Itachi ignored it. He knew that it was going to take his little brother a while to trust him again, and he really couldn't blame the kid. Not after everything that he went through. "Are you two going to come in?"

"I don't want to intrude," Naruto tried to say, but Itachi smiled kindly at him and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to argue. In any other situation he would have, but he really didn't want to leave Sasuke's side quite yet.

"Come on in," Itachi urged the both of them. "Father and mother are eager to see you again little brother."

Sasuke only nodded as he stepped into the house. It was amazing how different the place seemed. It still looked exactly the same as it had been when his parents died, Sasuke never moved anything except to clean and then each object was placed right back where it was originally, but other things made the whole house different. Mainly, it was the scent of the house. He could smell freshly bought flowers, probably given by his father to his mother. It was the one gesture of kindness that his father had always shown to his mother. Whenever a single flower wilted, he would immediately go out and buy another extravagant bouquet to replace it. His mother loved flowers. In fact, she maintained a garden of her own, but she didn't like to pick the flowers and bring them into her home so she loved the gifted flowers from his father.

Then there was the scent of baking. His mother was probably in the kitchen making some sort of sweets. It was another one of her hobbies. In fact, most of their meals contained some sort of sweet. Sasuke considered her to be the best cook in the world, and no other sweet could ever measure up to her amazing cooking. That's why he had stopped eating sweets when she had died, because, even though he actually really liked sweets, they all reminded him of her.

"Mother!" Itachi called into the house. "Father! Sasuke is here."

There was a loud thunking sound as something was put down much more roughly than it probably should have been in the kitchen before Mikoto rushed out to greet her youngest son. "Oh my baby!" she sighed happily as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. Sasuke immediately melted into her warm embrace. He couldn't help it. He had missed his mother's kind touch for such a long time. He felt like an innocent child clinging to his mother after something bad had happened, but he didn't care because his mother gave him all the comfort that he had been missing.

Mr. Uchiha came into the hallway soon after. He wasn't as fast as Mikoto, because of his Uchiha pride, but Sasuke could tell, even though he wouldn't have been able to when he was younger, that his father was more than happy to see him. Mr. Uchiha walked up to his son, who was still wrapped in Mikoto's arms and patted him on the back. "Welcome home son," he said.

Sasuke could only nod. This was all so new to him, and, yet, it's like he had always known this. He felt like, if he closed his eyes, everything would disappear and he would be in his abandoned home again. But when he opened his eyes everything was still there.

"Alright," Mikoto said when she finally let him go, "I'm making some apple pie right now." Apple pie had always been Sasuke's favorite. "Are you going to stay and eat too?" she asked Naruto.

"If that's not a bother," Naruto said with a small smile.

"Of course not," Mikoto smiled. "I'll even pack up a slice for your mother and father, if your mother will promise to give me some of her famous cookies."

"I'm sure she'll be fine with that," Naruto laughed.

Sasuke was suddenly struck with how openly Naruto was acting with his parents, but there was something off about the whole interaction. Naruto seemed to be very shy and, even though he acted like the Uchiha's were a second family to him, Sasuke could tell that there was an undertone of feeling like he shouldn't be there. His parents, on the other hand, treated Naruto with an odd sort of reverence that he had never seen them show to anyone else. His father even seemed to bow his head any time Naruto looked at him, and when Naruto passed him there was a slight forward bend in his back that was very close to a bow. It amazed Sasuke that Naruto could illicit that sort of reaction from either of his parents, but, he supposed, there was a lot about Naruto that he had missed over the years that he had been a traitor. Now, he decided as Naruto followed him and the rest of his family into the dining room, he was determined to learn everything about Naruto and make up for all the horrible things he had done.

"Now Naruto," Mikoto said as she brought out the food and the rest of the group sat in their own perspective chairs. Sasuke's father sat at the head of the table while Mikoto sat opposite him and Itachi sat Fugaku's right side while Sasuke and Naruto sat on his left. "You know our rules. No hoods at the table."

Suddenly the whole room went tense and Naruto stood from his chair. "I've been away from my parents all day today. I'm sure they'll want me home so that we can at least have dinner together."

"At least take some dessert with you," Mikoto said as she too stood up with her lip between her teeth.

"Thank Mikoto-san," Naruto bowed slightly and took the offered food before he left the house entirely.

"What was that about?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Mikoto said. "I knew that Naruto was sensitive about what was under his hood, but he was always fine with showing himself to us so I just thought that it wouldn't bother him. I was being careless."

"You've seen under his hood?" Sasuke's eyes widened.

"You haven't?" Mikoto asked. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I never should have brought it up."

"It's fine mother," Itachi spoke up. "Sasuke's going to have to learn what's under the hood sooner or later. We just have to give Naruto some time. Isn't that right Sasuke?"

"Fine," Sasuke said begrudgingly. He wanted nothing more than to follow Naruto right out those doors and demand that he explain exactly what he was hiding, but he knew that he had no right to do such a thing as to command that Naruto trust him after he had so easily broken Naruto's trust before.

* * *

Sorry guys. This is the last pre-written chapter for this story. I'll post the next one as soon as I finish it


	5. Chapter 5

Sasuke had trouble sleeping that night. He had gone to the hokage tower to meet with the third and fifth hokage and they had said that he was free to go after a long lecture about how he hurt the village because the fourth hokage had recommended it. What had actually surprised Sasuke more than just being released was the fact that during their lecture about how much pain he caused the village, Naruto's name came up more than the actual village did, which actually brings him back to the real reason that he couldn't sleep even though he was finally in the comfy home occupied by all of his family that he had missed so much. He couldn't sleep because he was too busy worrying about Naruto. How had Naruto been while he was gone? Did Naruto get seriously injured? Is that why Naruto refused to take off his hood? Other such questions also plagued him, but the one that scared him the most was: Did Naruto really forgive him for abandoning and trying to kill him? And, if so, how could he forgive him so easily?

* * *

"Oh hi Sasuke," Kushina said as she answered the door to him the next morning.

"Hello Namikaze-san," Sasuke answered respectfully.

"Oh now none of that," Kushina smiled. "Call me Kushina. Everyone else does."

"I was actually wondering if Naruto was here today," he said.

"Oh," she giggled. "Naruto's not really a morning person so I'm not even really sure if he's awake yet."

"Can I go up and see him?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know dear," Kushina frowned. "Naruto won't be too happy if you see him without his cloak when he hasn't shown it to you instead."

"Well then," Sasuke replied. "Can you go tell him I'm here?"

"Why do you want to see him so much?" Kushina asked. She knew her son had feelings for Sasuke, she would blame that on mother's intuition later, and she wanted to see if Sasuke's feelings were the same. If her suspicions were correct, which she was absolutely positive they were, he did and she was going to do anything in her power to get them together. That didn't, however, stop her from acting like a mother and poking into her son's business and teasing him about certain things.

"I just haven't seen him in a while," Sasuke said. Kushina could tell it was a lie, but she chose not to press. She would get her information at a later date.

"Why don't you just go and wait in the living room dear," Kushina said with a smile as she headed towards the stairs. "I'll go and get Naruto right now."

"Thank you," Sasuke said with a bow before turning to head towards the living room. He almost missed his turn and got lost, but he was able to find it relatively easily.

* * *

It actually took Naruto a bit longer to enter the living room then Sasuke expected it to and when he did, he did not look very happy.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Sasuke asked.

"No," Naruto shook his head. "It's just that my mom and I had an argument."

Sasuke frowned. The day before it kind of looked like the family was dancing around each other and trying to find what was an appropriate way to act around each other so they probably didn't have arguments much. Whatever it was about, it must have been important. "What was it about?" Sasuke asked.

"My cloak," Naruto mumbled as he took the seat on the couch next to Sasuke.

"What about it?" Sasuke asked. His curiosity about the argument was even stronger now that he knew that it was about the loathsome thing that seemed to be keeping him away from his friend.

"Mommy says that I should just man up and take it off," Naruto sighed.

"Why don't you?" Sasuke asked before cursing himself. That was not the right response. He was letting his anger at the stupid piece of clothing get in the way of comforting Naruto. "Not that you have to. I was just wondering."

"You'll hate me if I take it off," Naruto said.

"I could never hate you," the answer came from Sasuke's lips so quickly that he didn't even have time to think of the words. It was true though. He would never hate Naruto. Not after everything that they had been through together and apart. He could never hate Naruto because Naruto was his only friend. He could never hate Naruto because he… Well he could never hat Naruto.

"Yes you would," Naruto sighed. "Sakura was so frightened by it that she screamed and I haven't seen her since."

"I won't hate you," Sasuke put his arm around Naruto's shoulders and pulled him into a sideways hug so that Naruto's ear was pressed against Sasuke's shoulder without jostling the hood, "and I won't run away."

"Do you promise Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I promise," Sasuke answered.

Naruto frowned, but broke the hug enough that he could reach up and grab the hood that covered his head. After a hesitant pause and a defeated sigh, Naruto quickly threw the hood off of his head and then buried his face into Sasuke's shoulder. It was an awkward way to sit, with both of them sitting forward on the couch with their bodies turned towards each other in weird angles, but Sasuke didn't care because he could see two orange fox ears twitching nervously under his scrutiny. Sasuke reached up and touched Naruto's new ears just to make sure they were real, even though he knew they were, and felt them flinch away from his fingers and press themselves against Naruto's head in a frightened manner. Sasuke followed their movement and placed his hand at the base of one of the ears. The hair felt so soft under his hand that he actually started to pet the ear that he was touching all the way from the golden base, through the orange middle, and to the white tip only to start over again at the base. He continued to do this until he could feel Naruto purring against his shoulder. Naruto shifted suddenly, making Sasuke stop until he stopped moving again, and moved his legs so that he was sitting sideways on Sasuke's lap and the side of his face was pressed into Sasuke's shoulder with he ears flicking happily as Sasuke continued his movements one more.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Naruto jumped from his position, almost hitting Sasuke's chin with his head as he went, and pulled his hood back over his fox ears as they pressed once more against his head. "I'm sorry Sasuke," he said frantically. "I didn't mean to."

"Don't do that," Sasuke stood and moved until he was right in front of Naruto. He pushed the hood back down and put one hand on each ear so that he could play with them. Naruto sighed happily and leaned against Sasuke's chest once more. "I like them," Sasuke said.

"You do?" Naruto asked as he looked up at Sasuke.

"Yea," Sasuke smiled. "They're cute."

Naruto blushed and buried his face back into Sasuke's shoulder so that he could hide his embarrassment.

"How does your hood even hide these?" Sasuke wondered out loud.

"I put a genjutsu on it," Naruto mumbled from his hiding place. "It always looks like it takes the form of a human body. If you were to look at it with you sharingan eyes, I think you would have been able to see the bumps that they create."

"Don't hide these from me anymore," Sasuke said as he pulled Naruto away from him so that he could look into his eyes.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"You can trust me Naruto," Sasuke said. "I won't hate you so don't hide anything from me anymore."

"Do you mean that Sasuke?" Naruto's eyes were wide and pleading and Sasuke answered him with a firm nod. Naruto looked down at himself once before closing his eyes tight and holding his breath while he undid his cloak the rest of the way so that it could fall to the ground and reveal the rest of his secret appearance.

Sasuke watched as Naruto's ears pressed against his head once more and the cloak fell to reveal nine orange fox tails wrapping around Naruto's legs and torso nervously. He reached forward and touched the tail closest to him just as cautiously as he first reached for the ears and felt Naruto take in another gasp of air without even letting go of the one he was holding. Sasuke smiled as he reached forward, found Naruto's tail bone, and ran his hands as far over the tails as he could reach, feeling Naruto let out all of the air he had been holding and started to breathe again. Then he felt all of the tails wrap around his arm to keep him in place, asking him to continue petting, but making it so that he wouldn't be able to even if he tried. So, instead, he reached his other hand up to one of Naruto's ears and began petting it. "You're going to have to let go of my arm if you want me to keep petting you," Sasuke laughed.

Naruto gasped and moved back again. "I'm sorry Sasuke," he said as his tails flicked nervously behind him.

"It's okay," Sasuke reassured. This time he made no move for the foxy extremities but wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and pulled him into a full on hug. "It's okay."


	6. Chapter 6

"Do the villagers know?" Sasuke asked after they had been sitting on the couch together for a while. Naruto was sitting on his lap and was snuggling into his chest like a content puppy as Sasuke ran his hand over his ears and hair. He tensed slightly before answering.

"Yes," he said softly, "but they look at me weirder than usual so I still wear my cloak out in public."

"They will always look at you weird," Sasuke sighed and Naruto shifted so that his face was buried in his chest. "But if you don't accept it, they never will."

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked not quite understanding what Sasuke was saying.

"You have to stop wearing that thing Naruto," Sasuke gestured towards the cloak that lay forgotten on the floor where it had slipped off of Naruto's shoulders. "They'll never be able to see you for you if you keep hiding behind that damn cloak."

"But I don't want them to hurt me anymore," Naruto whined.

"Don't worry Naruto," Sasuke promised in a whisper. "I will protect you."

"You promise?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Sasuke nodded.

"You promise you won't leave me?" Naruto asked.

"Oh," Sasuke frowned. Of course he should have known that his betrayal would have affected Naruto to some extent, but so far it hadn't been mentioned so he completely forgot about it even though it had been one of his main worries when he returned. "I promise that I will never leave you Naruto. I promise that I will never betray you. I promise that I will never hurt you. I promise that I will protect you."

"That's a lot of promises," Naruto frowned. People didn't make promises like that to him.

"And I will never brake a single one of them," Sasuke vowed.

"I don't believe you," Naruto sighed. He wanted to believe Sasuke. He wanted to just trust this man wholeheartedly, but he knew that he wasn't going to be able to achieve that so easily after that first betrayal.

"I don't expect you to," Sasuke admitted, "but I will prove it to you."

"Why are you doing this Sasuke?" Naruto asked suddenly. "Why are you being so kind to me?"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"I don't want you to be treating me like this just because I was able to bring your family back to life," Naruto admitted. "I don't want this to be about pity or some form of misguided favor for what I've done for you."

"I can't deny that my family's return doesn't have anything to do with me being like this," Sasuke said, "but it's not because you brought them back. It's because I no longer have to avenge them. I don't have that pressing down on me so I don't have to worry about that. I am free to think of other things and right now I'm thinking of you as I had always wanted to think of you, but had never been able to until now."

"I don't understand," Naruto whispered. He had an idea, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"I don't think I realized it until I saw my family alive in that compound," Sasuke explained, "but I've been in love with you for a very long time now."

"Love?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"Yes," Sasuke nodded, "love."

"Why me?" Naruto asked.

"Because it's you," Sasuke responded easily.

"That doesn't explain anything," Naruto frowned.

"I know it doesn't," Sasuke laughed, "but that's the only way that I can think of."

"Oh my goodness," Kushina exclaimed. She had walked in just in time to hear Sasuke proclaim his love for Naruto and was only able to hold her outburst until that moment. "That is so cute."

Sasuke blushed and Naruto buried himself farther into his shoulder as he whined at his mom for interrupting them.

"I'm sorry," Kushina smiled, "but it was just so cute that I had to say something." Then she turned to Sasuke with a glare that she usually saved for her most hated enemy. "If you hurt him in anyway, I will not hesitate to destroy you."

Sasuke's arms tightened around Naruto in a protective gesture as her glare landed on him. Even though it was clearly meant just for him and not for her son, the glare still registered as a threat and he didn't like Naruto being in the way. Naruto made a confused noise at the gesture, but allowed it because it was more comforting to him to have Sasuke's strong arms protecting him then his mother's words defending him. "I don't intend to," Sasuke replied easily because he really didn't intend to do any such thing.

"Good," Kushina's glare was gone so fast that it didn't seem like it had even been there in the first place. "Now I think the two of you should get out of the house. As cute as it is, you shouldn't laze around the house all day. Besides, I think the hokages will probably want to see the two of you sooner or later. Neither of you have been on a mission since you returned and I'm sure they have several for you."

"A mission?" Naruto ears perked up at the thought of it and he quickly scrambled out of Sasuke's lap only to pull him up with him. "Do you think that they will let Sasuke and I go on a mission together?"

"That's up to them," Kushina admitted, "but you know I have a few minor connections with one of the hokages so I'm sure that we can think of something that the two of you can do together."

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "Come on Sasuke. Let's go get a mission."

"Yea yea," Sasuke rolled his eyes, but smiled at Naruto's antics nonetheless.

"Have fun," Kushina waved them off. She turned back to the living room and smiled when she noticed Naruto's cloak, which was still where it had fallen. She strode over and picked it up with a fond smile. She hated the cloak and all of the fear and insecurities it represented for Naruto, but she couldn't be happier to have it in the house with Naruto nowhere nearby. She would have happily burnt it by now if she wasn't afraid that that would ruin her son's trust in her completely. Instead, she just folded the thing up and put it on Naruto's bed for him to find when he returned. Hopefully, it would go in the trash once he found it again, but she wasn't going to expect it. At least not yet.

* * *

I know this is a relatively short chapter, but it was just a little to sentimental to not work on its own. I hope you like this chapter as well.


	7. Chapter 7

If it had been up to Naruto, he probably would have run through the village in order to get himself a mission. At first he would have run from pure excitement, but as time passed and he realized the townspeople were staring hatefully at him, Naruto just wanted to get away. However, Sasuke's strong grip on his hand kept him in his place. Sasuke wanted the villagers to accept them and they would only do that if Naruto would allow them to. He knew it would be a long and hard trial, but he also knew that Naruto had to go through it. The sooner the better. He would force Naruto if he had to, as it seemed that was the way it was going to go, but he would be there every step of the way too.

"Sasuke-kun!" the two of them heard a voice gasp just a little ways in front of them. It was Sakura. Sasuke had to admit that she looked like she might have grown a bit, but he didn't really care because it didn't seem like her personality had grown with it.

Naruto squeezed Sasuke's hand and moved a little closer to Sasuke. He had been telling the truth when he told Sasuke that he hadn't seen Sakura since he told her about his secret, but that didn't mean that she didn't continue to make his life a living hell. She was not going to give up the vendetta that she had taken upon herself when Naruto failed to bring Sasuke back just because she was afraid of him. She would just do it from a farther distance. Suddenly, he felt the back of the hand that was holding onto his rub across one of his tails and he realized that he had been slowly curling them around himself during the whole walk. They must have finished their travels at the sound of Sakura's voice.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura practically tackled Sasuke as she enveloped him in an unwelcome hug. Neither boys failed to notice the fact that she was being very careful to stay as far away from Naruto as she could while still being able to touch a lot of Sasuke. "I heard that you were back, but I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes."

"Let go of me Sakura," Sasuke said impatiently.

Sakura pouted, but moved herself so that she could wrap her arms around Sasuke's and pull it close against her boobs. She was almost certain that by showing off her best assets she would pull Sasuke's attention to her and make him fall violently in love with her. Such were the delusions of a fan girl. "I've been looking for you ever since I heard the rumors."

"That's nice," Sasuke shook his arm out of Sakura's grip and stepped to the side, bringing him closer to Naruto, so that he could get away from her. "I'm going to go to the hokage tower to get a mission."

"Oh that sounds great Sasuke-kun," Sakura clapped her hands happily; completely ignoring the fact that Sasuke had just shaken her off. "We can get one together. Just the two of us. Then we'll be all alone out in the wilderness. It will be so romantic."

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and kept moving. Hopefully Sakura would get the hint and leave them alone. Of course, Sakura had never been known to be able to take a hint. She followed them despite both of the boy's clear uncomfortableness with her. She followed them all the way into the hokage tower.

"Ah," Minato smiled once they stepped into the new office. It wasn't really a new office. It was really just rearranged so that there would be three separate desks for each of the hokages. They were smaller sized desks so that they could fit, but it didn't really seem to matter to any of them because the workloads were being given to all of them equally. The third hokage's desk was centered in the room and the fourth and fifth hokage's desks were angled in the two corners across from the door so that the sun wouldn't hit them through the window. "What can I do for you guys?"

"We were hoping to get a mission," Sakura smiled happily as she wrapped herself around Sasuke's arm once again. He tried to shake her off again, but this time he was unsuccessful.

The three hokages looked at the former team seven and then at each other. All three of them knew about team seven's past and how Sakura never seemed to treat Naruto very kindly, but added on to the fact that Naruto and Sasuke were very obviously holding each other's hands, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to send all three of them out together right then, if ever. Not to mention the fact that both Naruto and Sasuke looked like they wanted to get away from Sakura more than anything.

"I do have a mission here," Minato said as he picked up the folder that held said mission, "but, unfortunately, it's only for two people."

"That's alright," Sakura smiled. "Sasuke and I can go together."

"Actually," Minato cut in before she could say anything else. "We were getting ready to send both Naruto and Sasuke on this mission. We have another one that you can do Sakura."

"We'll take it," Sasuke said before Sakura could argue.

Minato stood, taking both the folder that held Naruto and Sasuke's mission and another folder that held Sakura's mission off his desk, and walked over to the three of them to hand them their intended missions. Sakura opened hers before Sasuke could even take the folder from Minato.

"This is a D-rank mission," she cried out angrily.

"Well yea," Minato shrugged. "You are still a genin after all." Sakura had made three bad enemies in the form of the three hokage's when she made the mistake of turning against Naruto and so had been given only D-rank missions for a really long time. Not that she really noticed. She spent most of her time working in the hospital, where she was really needed, so she didn't really get many missions and the hokages did a really good job of covering up their contempt for her. They did occasionally send her out on some difficult missions too, but only when her medical skills were absolutely necessary and their were no others to take her place. They weren't going to allow their men to die just because Sakura couldn't be nice to someone even if it was their Naruto.

"Sasuke's a rogue ninja," Sakura pointed to Sasuke and then to Naruto, "and he's nothing more than a demon. Why do they get to do a mission together, but I don't get to go with my precious Sasuke?"

"First of all," Sasuke growled as he finally ripped his arm away from Sakura's strong grip only to grab her arm in his own, "don't ever call him that again. And second of all, I wouldn't go on a mission with you even if we were the last two ninjas in Konoha."

Tears sprang to Sakura's eyes, but Sasuke was unaffected. He didn't care about her. The only thing he cared about was the fact that Naruto was now shaking very subtly at his side. Letting go of Sakura, Sasuke moved the hand that he was already holding of Naruto's up to his lips to kiss softly before letting it go in order to rub his hands across one of Naruto's ears in order to calm him. He was actually surprised when it worked almost immediately. Naruto leaned into him and began to purr with a slight smile on his face and his eyes closed, but Sasuke didn't miss the fact that the ears remained tucked against his head and the tails remained wrapped around his body. Sasuke hated Sakura.

"Why can't you see what he is Sasuke?" Sakura cried. "Why can't you see that I'm better than him?"

"Because your not," Sasuke hissed without stopping petting Naruto.

"He's brainwashed you," she accused. "He's brainwashed all of you. Why can't you see that? I'm the one that you need to love Sasuke. I'm the one who will be the best for you. Not _him."_

"I love Naruto," Sasuke said. This wasn't exactly how he was planning on telling Naruto's dad, but, by the looks of it, Minato had already figured it out anyway. "I will never love you. I wouldn't be surprised if you never find anyone to love you by the way you act. And, if someone ever does love you, it will certainly not be me." With that Sasuke wrapped his arm around Naruto's waist, stroking the tail that was curled in his way, and steered Naruto out of the room leaving only Sakura and the hokage's.

"I thought I taught you better than this," Tsunade shook her head sadly.

"You don't understand," Sakura tried. "He's brainwashed you all. He's nothing but a demon. I'm the only one that can see him for what he really is. He's just a demon getting ready to destroy this whole village just like he did all those years ago. Well I won't let him. I'm going to stop him."

"If you lay one finger on my son," Minato growled, "you will regret it for the rest of your life."

"I will save you all from him," Sakura said determinedly before exiting the room.

Minato sat heavily in his seat with a heavy head in his hands.

"Don't worry," the third hokage said, "I'm sure that Sasuke will protect him."

"Yea," Minato nodded slowly. "You're right, but I'm just as afraid of Sasuke being the one to hurt him in the first place."


End file.
